Zen and Xi sat on Erza's back as they moved towards the apartment complex, they both noticed that the car barricades had been moved away, instead rocks had been collected from the buildings that had broken down around and formed a wall.
They had expanded the area around the apartment complex. Since they were on Erza and the wall's height was not too high so they could see the inside, where small makeshift tents were sitting.
Zen noticed that a crowd was gathered at the entrance of the apartment, the people in the tents had come out and were watching the crowd that formed.
Sakura stood facing the crowd, her dagger was drawn as she stared menacingly at them, Scarlet, Raven, Anna, Katsu and the tanned guy also had their weapons drawn out.
As if she noticed Zen's approach, she shifted her gaze from the crowd and looked beyond them to see Zen on Erza with Xi sitting in front of him, her lips unconsciously blossomed into a smile.
The man with buckteeth who had a slender figure coupled with his eye patch made him look like a bad guy, when he saw Sakura's smile, his eyes showed resolve.
"Me wanting you to be my woman is a blessing, you should just accept, or I'll use force" The man said as he stretched his hand to grab Sakura.
*Slice!*
Sakura did not hesitate to cut off the arm of the man. "Only Zen can touch me"
"Aaaaaaaahaaaahhaaaah!!!!!" The man screamed as he held his remaining arm while glaring at Sakura.
"B*tch... If I do not-"
*Crash!*
"If you do not what?" Zen said as he stepped on the man's head whose face had kissed the floor. The crowd of men who had formed moved back in trepidation.
Shifting is gaze away from the man, he looked towards Sakura , "are you okay?"
Sakura nodded as she smiled sweetly at Zen which made the latter blush as he scratched the back of his head before he looked back at the men with a cough. His eyes became stern as he observed the male that stood before him. Amongst them were boys of his age, while the rest were young adults and middle aged men.
"I spared your life after I took over this place not because I am merciful, I am not just bothered... Some of you here are someone's father, uncle, and brother who are the only surviving solace of your family" Zen said shifting his gaze to the women and children who stood outside their tents.
Hearing Zen's words, most of them hung their head in shame while the others just stared back at Zen with an indifferent expression. He did not mind it.
"Who are you to reprimand us?" A middle aged man asked as he glared at Zen. He was dressed in an office attire, except that he was not wearing a blazer only a shirt and black trousers.
"You're just a kid with a little power... That doesn't give you the effrontery to scold us" another boy said, he was just the same age as Zen.
Seeing that Zen was not responding, some others voiced their own complaints, with each complaints that rang out Zen's mood kept dampening. Most of the observant males who were not saying anything began to keep their distances from those who were complaining.
Under the confusion of the complaining males, two groups were created, on the left were those who didn't say anything and on the right were those who were complaining. Only about twelve people were on the right, two men and the rest were teenagers, the bucktooth man had stood up and was standing amongst them while glaring at Zen.
Seeing that they had closed their mouths, Zen looked at the group.
"As you have said your mind, let me give you mine..."
"I don't give two f***s about your opinions, I conquered this place, so this place belongs to me now, if you've got an issue, get your ass out of here..." Zen said as he coldly glanced at the twelve.
"... If you feel you'll be lucky, you can try hitting me once, and I'll listen to any of your demands" he continued.
"As long as anyone of us touches you?" The bucktooth man asks as he stepped forward and looked at Zen with a glare.
"Sure... but you have to be conscious of..." Zen said with a sigh as he stretched his hand to the side, everyone was staring at his hand or what was hanging on it. "....dying, you should be prepared to die"
The bucktooth man stared at Zen's side profile as he had the latter's hand in his body and out of his back. He coughed up blood as his gaze became blurry before vanishing.
[Level 2 human killed]
[1xp gained, no sp gained, 20 evolution crystals]
Looking at the prompt, Zen sighed as he was not getting any exp from killing low levels, he had to find high level monsters to kill. Luckily for him, he had sent his summons to go around and kill aberrants. He watched as his exp bar was filling up, while the number of skill books and evolution crystals increased in his inventory.
Shifting his gaze to the remaining eleven men, Zen asks, "anyone else?"
Scarlet looked at Zen's back, her brows were furrowed. She noticed how Zen's expression had not changed after he had just killed the man. He was still a teenager and he was already used to taking lives.
"If you wish to stay here, you will have to abide by my rules, if you work hard, you will be rewarded... " Zen said as he walked towards a middle aged man whose hair was tied in a ponytail, a skillbook appeared in his hand and he handed it to the man.
The middle aged man looked at Zen with stunned eyes," -but... "
"Uncle, no need to be courteous, I've been watching you ever since, you have not said a thing since this crowd was gathered, so it only means you were forced .... "Zen said calmly with a smile.
"Yes, yes... These guys threatened to defile my daughter and butcher my son if I didn't" the man said as tears feel from his eyes.
"How old are your children?" Zen asked again, his brows were furrowed.
"My daughter is 13 years old while my son would be 5 years old in three months" the man said.
"Shut up old man, stop slandering us! " A teenage boy from the right side shouted. Zen ignored the shout and looked at the others besides the middle aged man.
"Were you all threatened?" Zen asked and they all nodded. Standing before Zen granted them some form of safety, they figured that as long as he was there, they were safe.
Zen understood that they were threatened with their lives or the lives of their loved ones. He conjured a number of skillbooks and gave it to the middle aged man, telling him to share it amongst themselves. He had seen his gift with his appraisal eye and he knew he was useful.
[Gift: Morale(A)]
[Description: When activated, you can increase the morale of your allies and making them keep a positive mindset]
"He'll be a very good Commander" Zen thought inwardly before he patted the man's shoulder.
"Perform well, and you might be able to fight by my side" Zen said before he looked at the rest. "Not only him, the rest of you also"
The middle aged man nodded as he lead the rest away, Zen's gaze became cold as he turned around and stared at the remaining eleven.
"Who said he was slandering?"
No one answered the question but they all looked towards a young guy who looked back at Zen with unwavering eyes. The latter was impressed before he noticed how the guy's eyes kept stealing glances at place where Sakura and the others were standing.
The guy was blatantly stealing glances at the women, the last bit of acknowledgement disappeared as he muttered in a low voice.
"Are my women pleasing to the eye?"
A/N: I would soon be going premium. I hope you can still support me with your power stones and golden tickets and also continue reading.